Title
Approval of a Resolution Authorizing a Multifamily Housing Tax Exemption Agreement Between the City of Olympia and 500 Columbia Place LLC.
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to approve the resolution authorizing a Multifamily Tax Exemption for 500 Columbia Place LLC and authorize the Interim City Manager to sign the agreement.
Report
Issue:
Whether to authorize the Eight-Year Multifamily Tax Exemption for 500 Columbia Place, LLC.
Staff Contact:
Cary Retlin, Home Fund Manager, Community Planning and Development, 360.570.3956.
Presenter(s):
None - Consent Calendar Item.
Background and Analysis:
The downtown Harbor Heights Apartments at 500 Columbia Street NW will create retail and commercial office space, and 116 new units of multifamily residential housing in the Multifamily Tax Exemption Downtown Residential Target Area. The project has been reviewed by the Site Plan Review Committee, and the land use, design and environmental review has been completed. The property is currently under construction.
500 Columbia Place LLC is seeking an eight-year tax exemption for the 116 market-rate units. The tax exemption applies to all qualifying residential units for eight years, but can be extended to 12 years if 20 percent of the units serve households below 80 percent of MFI (Medium Family Income). Staff worked with the development team to encourage the 12-year program - and they enthusiastically considered that program. Unfortunately the developer was unable to make this project financially viable for the 12-year affordable program units because of construction and other costs (a challenge other downtown developers have shared).
Background on the Multifamily Tax Exemption in Olympia
The primary purpose of this program is to promote construction of housing in key areas of the city where we would like to incentivize housing development. State law authorizes the City of Olympia t...
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